• 

• 


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n 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


DATA 


OF 


BY 


BERNARD   MOSES. 


SAN  FRAN'CISCO: 

Bosoui  ENGRAVING  &   PRINTING  Co. 

1887. 


DATA 


OF 


Mexican  and  United  States  History 


BERNARD   MOSES. 


SAN   FRANCISCO: 
BOSQUI  ENGRAVING  &  PRINTING  Co. 

1887. 


DATA    OF    MEXICAN    AND    UNITED    STATES 
HISTORY. 

The  recent  rapid  settlement  of  the  southwestern  States  and 
Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  the  extension  of  facili- 
ties of  communication  into  Mexico  have  entirely  changed  the 
relations  between  these  two  republics,  and  greatly  enlarged 
the  interest  of  each  in  the  other.  A  nation  hitherto  isolated 
and  unprogressive  is  by  these  means  being  brought  into  the 
community  of  progressive  nations,  and  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  lethargy  of  the  past  three  hundred  years  is  to 
be  continued.  The  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico  in  the  immediate  future  will  necessarily  be  either 
£  those  of  friendly  co-operation  or  of  positive  hostility.  In 
either  case  it  is  desirable  that  each  should  possess  a  better 
understanding  than-  at  present  of  the  actual  character  of  the 
other.  In  the  affairs  of  every  nation  there  are  certain  general 
j  facts  which  help  directly  to  reveal  this  character,  and  it  is 

^J 

,j     some  of  these  bearing  on  the  Mexican  nation  which  it  is  pro- 
^     posed  here  to  set  forth  in  contrast  with  facts  of  the  same  class 
^     drawn  from  the  history  and  present  condition  of  the  United 
States.     They  refer  to  the  peculiar  conditions  under  which  a 
^J    nation's  social  and  political  institutions  are  developed.     They 
.    embrace  the  climatic  and  geographical  conditions  of  the  na- 
•^    tion,  its  descent,  the  source  of  its  national  life,  the  impulse 
which  it  has  received  from  the  mother  country,  the  relation  of 
the  immigrant  to  the  aboriginal  population,  the  rate  of  in- 
crease of  the  whole,  and  the  circumstances  in  which  its  politi- 
cal energy,  at  different  times,  has  found   expression.     These 
facts  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  into  account  in  studying  the 
data  requisite  for  an  understanding  of  the  history  of  Mexico 
and  of  the    United   States  ;  and  also  certain   phases  of  the 


162281 


4  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

ecclesiastical  institutions  and  their  political  influence,  the 
attitude  of  the  people  towards  revolutionary  methods,  and 
the  relative  position  of  the  economic  affairs  of  the  two  nations. 
These  facts  constitute  the  subject-matter  of  the  prologue  of  a 
nation's  history.  They  do  not,  however,  enter  into  the  politi- 
cal development  of  all  nations  with  the  same  relative  degree 
of  modifying  force. 

The  differences  between  the  institutions  of  different  nations 
may,  in  certain  cases,  be  due  chiefly  to  unlike  climatic  and 
geographical  conditions,  while  the  differences  observed  in 
other  cases  may  be  almost  entirely  attributable  to  different 
race  characteristics,  in  other  words,  to  the  different  origins  of 
the  several  nations,  and  a  consequent  difference  of  inherited 
traits.  The  contrast  between  the  political  characteristics  of 
France  and  Germany,  for  instance,  is  to  be  attributed  only  in 
a  very  slight  degree  to  geographical  contrasts,  but  in  a  very 
large  measure  to  the  inherited  peculiarities  of  the  inhabitants. 
But  the  differences  between  England  and  Germany,  or  between 
England  and  France,  have  been  produced  to  a  much  greater 
extent  by  the  force  of  different  geographical  conditions.  Al- 
though at  different  epochs  of  English  history  political  liberty 
has  been  temporarily  suppressed,  still  the  eclipse  has  been 
only  partial  and  of  comparatively  short  duration.  But  in 
other  countries,  as  Spain,  France,  Germany,  with  apparently 
favorable  beginnings,  the  people  early  lost  a  large  share  of 
their  ancient  liberties.  The  superiority  of  England's  good 
fortune  in  this  regard,  is  largely  due  to  the  geographical  fact 
that  it  is  an  island.  The  people  from  the  Continent  who 
settled  England,  brought  with  them  no  political  wisdom 
greater  than  that  which  they  left  behind  with  their  kindred. 
In  their  new  home,  however,  they  found  conditions  favorable 
to  independent  growth.  Their  circumstances  here  favored 
the  development  of  that  political  wisdom  which  they  had  in 
common  with  the  whole  Germanic  people,  and  enabled  the 
nation  to  realize  this  wisdom  in  free  institutions. 

In  the  formation  of  the  institutions  of  the  United  States,  it 
is  possible  also  to  trace  the  influence  of  geographical  position. 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  5 

The  long  stretch  of  coast  facing  Europe,  furthered  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  series  of  settlements  independent  of  one  another 
and  only  subordinated  to  a  distant  power.  The  considerable 
independence  which  the  several  colonies  thus  acquired  exerted 
a  powerful  influence  to  make  the  national  government  a 
federal  government ;  for  they  had  so  long  pursued  a  separate 
and  individual  existence  that  no  closer  union  was  immediately 
possible.  The  two  alternatives  which  the  makers  of  the  Con- 
stitution had  to  face  were  federation  and  anarchy.  Moreover, 
the  general  position  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  has 
made  it  the  goal  of  the  bulk  of  European  emigration.  The 
vast  and  fertile  regions  cultivated  by  men  whom  a  stimulating 
climate  urges  to  vigorous  action,  have  given  the  nation  unsur- 
passed wealth.  The  ease  of  obtaining  a  suitable  return  for 
labor  from  the  unlimited  sources  of  wealth-production,  has 
prevented  any  considerable  class  from  falling  into  poverty, 
and  thus  made  the  problem  of  republican  government  hitherto 
of  easy  solution.  But  the  most  abundant  sources  were  not 
revealed  till  the  population  had  been  disciplined  through 
several  generations  under  the  hard  conditions  of  New  England 
and  the  Middle  Atlantic  States.  Necessity  made  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  colonies  thrifty,  and  so  thoroughly  were  they 
taught  the  lesson  that  when  the  necessity  was  past  the  habits 
of  thrift  and  economy  remained  to  leaven  the  whole  nation. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  its  physical  characteristics,  the 
United  States  presents  a  marked  contrast  with  the  neighbor- 
ing republic  on  the  south. 

The  striking  physical  feature  of  Mexico  is  the  fact  that  a 
large  part  of  the  most  densely  populated  territory,  although 
within  the  tropics,  lies  at  an  elevation  which  gives  it  a  climate 
removed  from  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  admirably 
suited  to  a  life  of  indolence  and  ease.  Of  the  present  popu- 
lation of  Mexico,  which  is  not  far  from  ten  and  a  half  millions, 
about  one-half  live  at  an  elevation  of  over  six  thousand 'feet. 
Above  this  line  are  found  six  of  the  nine  cities  which 
contain  more  than  thirty  thousand  inhabitants  each  ;  while 
of  the  seven  cities  ranging  in  population  from  twenty  thou- 


6  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

sand  to  thirty  thousand,  all  but  Colima  and  Vera  Cruz  lie 
more  than  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The  preponder- 
ance of  the  highland  population  may  be  clearly  seen,  more- 
over, by  a  comparison  of  the  areas  and  numbers  of  inhabit- 
ants of  the  several  groups  into  which  the  twenty-seven  States, 
the  Federal  District,  and  the  territory  of  Lower  California 
may  be  gathered.  The  northern  States,  including  Sonora, 
Chihuahua,  Coahuila,  Nevo  Leon  and  Lower  California,  em- 
brace an  area  of  310,162.  square  miles  and  a  population  of 
745,699 ;  the  eastern  States, — Tamaulipas,  Vera  Cruz,  To- 
basco,  Campeche  and  Yucatan, — an  area  of  112,478  square 
miles,  with  a  population  of  1,220,053  ;  the  Pacific  States — 
Sinaloa,  Jalisco,  Colima,  Michoacan,  Guerrero,  Oaxaca  and, 
Chipas — an  area  of  182,292  square  miles,  with  a  population 
of  3,398,607  ;  while  the  central  States,  as  Durango,  Zacatecas, 
Aguascalientes,  San  Louis,  Guanajuato,  Queretaro,  Hidalgo, 
Mexico,  Morelos,  Puebla,  Tlaxcala,  and  the  Federal  Dis- 
trict, with  a  total  area  of  only  145,530  square  miles, 
have  a  population  of  5,083,625.'  Thus  this  group  of 
small  States  on  the  high  central  table-land,  with  an 
area  less  by  20,000  square  miles  than  that  of  the  two  States 
of  Sonora  and  Chihuahua,  in  other  words,  with  less  than  one- 
fifth  of  the  territory  of  the  Republic,  contains  about  one-half 
of  the  population. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  table-land  is  simply  a  level 
plain.  It  is  rather  a  region  of  uneven  surface,  elevated  from 
6,000  to  9,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  made  up  of  a  succes- 
sion of  broad  valleys  of  different  elevations,  separated  by  vast 
tracts  of  high  rolling  country,  broken  here  and  there  by  lofty 
ridges  and  volcanic  peaks.  This  is  known  as  the  cold  region, 
and  enjoys  a  mean  temperature  of  from  51°  to  55°  Fahrenheit. 

Descending  to  the  valleys  which,  with  their  surrounding 
hills,  make  up  the  region  sloping  from  the  borders  of  the 
central  table-land  to  the  ocean  and  the  gulf,  we  pass  through 
a  zone  of  beautiful  and  luxuriant  vegetation,  where  "  reigns 

1   Garcia  Cubas,   "  Cuadro  Geografico,"  pp.   io-n. 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  7 

perpetually  a  soft  spring  temperature."  Below  this  land  of 
eternal  spring  lie  the  hot  regions  of  the  coast.  While  the 
vegetation  of  the  highlands  is  feeble  the  lower  zones  are 
admirably  suited,  both  by  soil  and  climate,  for  the  most 
abundant  production.  Yet  the  highlands,  under  Aztec  as 
well  as  under  Spanish  dominion,  have  been  the  principal  seat 
of  Mexican  civilization.  Following  the  general  plan  of  popular 
migrations,  by  which  the  migrating  members  of  any  tribe  or 
nation  seek  for  their  new  home  a  climate  not  greatly  unlike 
that  of  their  abandoned  country,  "  the  Aztecs,  originally  from 
a  country  to  the  north  of  the  Rio  Gila,  perhaps  even  emi- 
grants from  the  most  northern  parts  of  Asia,  in  their  progress 
towards  the  south,  never  quitted  the  ridge  of  the  Cordillera, 
preferring  these  cold  regions  to  the  excessive  heat  of  the 
coast."1  After  the  conquest,  it  became  necessary  for  the 
Spaniards  to  assert  their  power  at  the  points  from  which  had 
previously  issued  the  governmental  authority  of  the  defeated 
r^ation.  Political  policy,  therefore,  led  the  conquerors  to 
establish  themselves  in  those  parts  of  the  country  which  they 
found  most  densely  populated.  Ecclesiastical  policy  contrib- 
uted to  the  same  result.  It  suggested  the  erection  of  a 
Christian  altar  in  every  place  specially  consecreted  to  pagan 
worship  ;  and  thus  under  the  old  regime  of  Spanish  dominion 
in  Mexico,  the  bulk  of  the  European  population  was  gathered 
at  the  centres  of  ancient  Aztec  civilization.  The  occupancy 
of  the  highlands  by  the  Spaniards  was,  moreover,  determined 
by  their  inordinate  desire  for  the  precious  metals  which  found 
here  its  most  immediate  gratification. 

Thus,  the  elevation  of  the  table-land  into  the  region  of  a 
temperate  climate,  made  it  the  home  of  the  Aztecs  who  had 
emigrated  from  a  northern  zone  ;  and  the  presence  of  the 
Aztecs  determined  here  the  later  civilization  introduced  by 
the  Spaniards.  The  forces  which  have  concentrated  within 
this  comparatively  small  area  the  bulk  of  the  population  of 
the  nation,  and  more  particularly  the  bulk  of  the  dominant 

1  Humboldt,  "Political  Essay,"  1.90. 


8  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

class,  have  been,  moreover,  specially  powerful  in  making  the 
government  of  Mexico  a  centralized  government,  in  spite  of 
the  existence  of  elaborate  laws  providing  for  a  federal  distri- 
bution of  power. 

With  this  brief  reference  to  the  fact  that  climatic  and 
geographical  conditions  are  to  be  set  down  among  the  data 
of  the  nation's  political  life,  we  may  turn  to  the  more  impor- 
tant item  of  popular  descent.  The  fundamental  notion  here 
is  the  principle  of  heredity,  a  notion  that  is  as  old  as  civili- 
zation, and  has  been  recognized  in  the  organization  of  society 
from  the  beginning  until  now.  We  may  not  be  disposed  to 
accept  the  idea  with  all  the  consequences  that  have  been 
assigned  to  it,  yet  there  are  undeniably  certain  characteristics 
which  pass  by  inheritance  from  generation  to  generation. 
These  may  be  the  mental  or  physical  peculiarities  of  the 
family,  or  the  more  general  characteristics  or  qualities  by 
which  one  race  is  distinguished  from  another.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  the  persistence  of  a  national  or  race 
character  may  be  explained,  to  a  certain  extent,  by  the  fact 
of  imitation,  but,  at  the  same  time,  there  survives,  by  inheri- 
tance, in  the  nation  as  well  as  in  the  individual  man,  some- 
what that  can  be  accounted  for  neither  on  the  ground  of 
imitation  nor  on  the  ground  of  previous  instruction.  There 
exists  a.n  inherited  bias,  aptitude,  or  propensity,  which  makes 
certain  ideas  acceptable  and  others  repugnant,  and  will, 
therefore,  be  likely  to  insure  the  adoption  of  the  one  and  the 
rejection  of  the  other. 

The  fundamental  similarity  of  the  governments  of  all 
nations  of  one  race  can  be  reasonably  explained  only  on 
the  basis  of  a  common  inheritance  of  primitive  political 
traditions,  and  of  a  common  inherited  political  bias.  All  the 
modern  Aryan  nations  have  governments  organized  on  a 
common  fundamental  plan,  and  we  find  on  examination  that 
this  plan  embodies  the  essential  features  of  the  original  gov- 
ernment, so  far  as  we  know  it,  of  the  primitive  stock  from 
which  these  nations  are  descended.  This  similarity  may  be 
explained  as  an  inheritance  by  tradition,  or  as  an  inherited 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  9 

habit  of  mind  which  leads  it  to  seek  instinctively  to  reproduce 
this  primitive  form  of  organization.  The  primitive  threefold 
division  of  authority  among  king,  council,  and  assembly  is 
essentially  reproduced  in  every  nation  of  Aryan  descent.  If, 
in  some  nations  at  some  periods  of  their  history,  important 
variations  from  the  essential  type  of  the  primitive  governments 
have  been  manifest,  these  variations  must  be  attributed  to 
local  and  temporary  causes.  A  prominent  cause  of  the 
interruption  of  the  normal  growth  of  governments  may  be 
found  in  the  church,  which  has  often  demanded  participation 
in  the  government  through  a  separate  deliberative  assembly. 
In  other  cases,  peculiar  circumstances  have  led  to  such  a 
degree  of  individual  development  of  classes  as  to  make  the 
union  of  any  two  in  a  single  assembly  entirely  out  of  the 
question,  as  in  Sweden,  where  the  legislature  was  composed 
of  four  distinct  houses.  But  here,  as  in  all  cases,  political 
progress  has  tended  to  break  down  that  abnormal  growth, 
and  bring  the  organization  back  to  its  primitive  plan. 

This  tendency  may  be  attributed  to  what  has  been  termed 
the  political  instinct  of  the  race,  a  force  of  conservatism 
which  is  always  present  in  every  nation,  but  which  is  some- 
times overcome  and  obscured  by  a  temporarily  dominant  rad- 
icalism. The  abolition  of  the  Crown  and  House  of  Lords 
in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  was  the  work  of  radicalism,  but  the 
gradual  return  of  the  Government,  during  the  period  of  the 
Commonwealth,  to  its  ancient  forms,  indicates  the  influence  of 
an  abiding  conservatism.  The  radicalism  of  France  in  nearly 
every  revolutionary  undertaking  has  declared  for  a  single 
legislative  assembly,  but  the  conservative  spirit  has,  in  each 
case,  ultimately  triumphed.  These  two  forces,  the  political 
instinct  of  the  race,  or  conservatism,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
intelligence  or  radicalism,  on  the  other,  must  be  given  promi- 
nence in  any  thorough  consideration  of  the  political  life  of  a 
nation. 

But  even  greater  prominence  in  this  regard  must  be  as- 
signed to  that  course  of  historical  events  which  specially  con- 
cern that  nation  whose  politics  it  is  proposed  to  explain. 


10  DATA  OF  MEXICAN  AND 

Moreover,  if  there  is  an  historical  record  of  the  origin  of  the 
nation  in  question  from  some  older  nation,  as  of  the  United 
States  from  England,  or  of  modern  Mexico  from  Spain,  it 
will  be  necessary  also  to  take  account  of  the  political  status 
of  the  antecedent  nation  at  the  time  of  the  separation.  No 
ideas  of  governmental  organization  are  so  familiar  to  colonists 
as  those  which  they  have  seen  realized  in  the  mother  country, 
and  for  this  and  other  reasons  the  government  of  the  colony 
is  almost  universally  a  more  or  less  accurate  copy  of  the  home 
government.  The  spirit  at  least  is  transmitted,  and  whatever 
variation  in  form  appears  is  due  to  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  new  settlement.  The  colonies  of  Spain  and  England 
stand  in  sharp  contrast  in  this  regard.  A  Spanish  colony, 
whether  viewed  with  reference  to  its  organization  or  to  its  in- 
fluence, is  widely  different  from  an  English  colony.  The 
difference  is  not  merely  casual;  it  is  fundamental.  With  cer- 
tain variations,  it  is  the  distinction  which  existed  between  the 
colonization  policies  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans.  The 
Greek  settlements,  made  up  of  the  voluntary  overflow  of  the 
population  of  the  mother  country,  were  generally  independent 
from  the  start.  "  The  migrations  of  the  colonists  were  com- 
monly undertaken  with  the  approbation  and  encouragement 
of  the  states  from  which  they  issued  ;  and  it  frequently  hap- 
pened that  the  motive  of  the  expedition  was  one  in  which  the 
interest  of  the  mother  country  was  mainly  concerned  :  as 
when  the  object  was  to  relieve  it  of  superfluous  hands  or  of 
discontented  and  turbulent  spirits.  But  it  was  seldom  that 
the  parent  state  looked  forward  to  any  more  remote  advan- 
tage from  the  colony,  or  that  the  colony  expected  or  desired 
any  from  the  parent  state.  There  was  in  most  cases  nothing 
to  suggest  the  feeling  of  dependence  on  the  one  side,  or  a 
claim  of  authority  on  the  other.  The  sons  when  they  left 
their  homes  to  shift  for  themselves  on  a  foreign  shore,  carried 
with  them  only  the  blessing  of  their  fathers,  and  felt  them- 
selves completely  emancipated  from  their  control.  Often  the 
colony  became  more  powerful  than  its  parent,  and  the  dis- 
tance between  them  was  generally  so  great  as  to  preclude  all 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  11 

attempts  to  enforce  submission.'"  The  only  bond  between 
them  was  a  moral  sentiment  growing  out  of  the  fact  of  a  com- 
mon origin. 

The  Roman  colonies  on  the  other  hand,  formed  a  part  of 
an  elaborate  scheme  for  extending  Roman  dominion.  They 
were  the  creatures  of  the  central  power  and  the  main  instru- 
ments for  confirming  its  conquests.  "  The  Grecian  colonies 
were  not  intended  to  increase  the  power  of  the  parent  state 
by  enlarging  its  dominions,  and  they  were  usually  established 
in  some  unoccupied  or  partially  occupied  territory."  But  the 
Roman  colonies  were  generally  "  established  in  existing  towns, 
the  citizens  of  which  were  ejected  and  deprived  of  their 
lands.  ..  .Instead  of  being  independent  of  the  parent  state, 
they  were  strictly  dependent  on  it,  and  the  political  rights  of 
the  colonists  were  very  limited.  In  fact,  the  Roman  colonies 
were  in  their  origin  little  more  than  garrisons  in  conquered 
fortified  places,  where  land  was  allotted  to  the  soldiers  instead 
of  pay  and  provisions."2  In  the  methods  of  their  establish- 
ment, the  Grecian  colonies  were  like  the  colonies  of  modern 
England.  The  colonies  of  Spain,  like  the  Roman  colonies, 
were  creations  of  the  central  political  organization,  and  were 
upheld  and  controlled  by  a  power  outside  of  themselves. 
Most  English  colonial  dependencies  have  worked  their  way  to 
prominence  through  a  struggling  age  of  feebleness.  The 
Spanish  dependencies,  on  the  other  hand,  have  been  from 
the  outset  equipped  with  ample  legal  machinery,  and  been 
controlled  and  supported  by  the  sagacity  and  power  of  the 
monarch.  "The  fundamental  maxim  of  Spanish  jurispru- 
dence with  respect  to  America,"  says  Robertson,  "  is  to  con- 
sider what  has  been  acquired  there  as  vested  in  the  crown, 
rather  than  in  the  state.  By  the  bull  of  Alexander  VI.,  on 
which,  as  its  great  charter,  Spain  founded  its  right,  all  the 
regions  that  had  been  or  should  be  discovered  were  bestowed 
as  a  free  gift  upon  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  They  and  their 
successors  were  uniformly  held  to  be  the  universal  proprietors 

1  Lewis,  "Government  of  Dependencies,"  107. 
8  Lewis,  "Government  of  Dependencies,"  116. 


12  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

of  the  vast  territories  which  the  arms  of  their  subjects  con- 
quered in  the  new  world.  From  them  all  grants  of  lands 
there  flowed,  and  to  them  they  finally  returned.  The  leaders 
who  conducted  the  various  expeditions,  the  governors  who 
presided  over  the  different  colonies,  the  officers  of  justice, 
and  the  ministers  of  religion,  were  all  appointed  by  their 
authority,  and  removable  at  their  pleasure.  The  people  who 
composed  infant  settlements  were  entitled  to  no  privileges 
independent  of  the  sovereign,  or  that  served  as  a  barrier 
against  the  power  of  the  crown."1  The  power  that  was  exer- 
cised by  the  elected  magistrates  in  the  towns,  was  merely 
municipal  and  was  confined  to  the  regulation  of  their  own 
interior  commerce  and  police.  All  political  power  "  centered 
in  the  crown,  and  in  the  officers  of  its  nomination." 

For  the  purpose  of  exercising  this  vast  power  with  which 
the  Spanish  Crown  was  clothed,  the  Spanish  dependencies  of 
America  were  divided  into  two  governments,  each  under  a 
Viceroy,  that  of  Mexico  and  that  of  Peru.  The  former  em- 
braced all  the  possessions  of  Spain  in  North  America,  and  the 
latter  those  of  South  America.  The  Viceroy,  like  the  monarch 
whom  he  represented,  exercised  a  power  that  was  practically 
absolute  within  the  limits  of  his  government.  His  authority 
extended  to  every  department  of  the  administration,  and  his 
external  pomp  was  suited  to  his  authority. 

But  the  independent  feebleness  of  the  English  settlement 
was  more  conducive  to  healthy  social  growth  than  the  rigid 
and  powerful  rule  of  the  Mexican  Viceroy.  The  knowledge 
of  the  Viceroy's  power  and  of  his  uncompromising  jealousy  of 
any  interference  in  affairs  falling  within  the  sphere  of  his  pre- 
rogative paralyzed  all  efforts  of  local  self-help  ;  and  yet,  by 
reason  of  the  multiplicity  of  his  duties  and  the  vastness  of  his 
dominions  and  the  indifference  of  his  subordinates,  he  could 
render  no  efficient  force  to  stimulate  social  action,  and  stagna- 
tion, therefore,  necessarily  ensued. 

But  however  unlike  the  English  and  Spanish  dependencies, 

1  "  History  of  America,"  p.  351. 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  13 

with  respect  to  their  social  and  political  organization,  there 
were  certain  fundamental  motives  to  their  establishment  which 
were  the  same  for  both.  Conspicuous  among  these  was  the 
primary  notion  on  which  the  mercantile  system  of  economics 
was  constructed,  the  notion  that  the  precious  metals  were 
alone  wealth,  and  that  that  nation  which  had  the  largest  quan- 
tity of  these  must  be  regarded  the  most  wealthy.  On  this  idea 
was  based  the  colonial  policy  of  modern  European  states. 
Spain  sought  the  desired  end  directly ;  England,  under  the 
influence  of  the  East  India  Company,  advanced  toward  it  in 
a  somewhat  more  roundabout  way.  Mexico  and  Peru  fur- 
nished these  metals  directly  from  their  mines,  and  for  this  rea- 
son were  regarded  by  Spain  as  the  most  desirable  possessions 
conceivable.  No  effort  was  spared  that  might  be  necessary  to 
conquer  and  hold  them.  They  contained  in  abundance  what 
all  nations  looked  upon  as  the  basis  of  material  salvation. 

While  Spain  sought  gold  directly  and  legislated  to  prevent 
its  exportation,  England  advanced  one  step  further  towards 
the  light,  and  was  willing  under  certain  circumstances  to  allow  it 
to  leave  the  country.  But  the  ulterior  aim  of  the  English  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Spaniards.  Gold  and  silver  might 
leave  England  for  the  purchase  of  raw  material,  since  the  raw 
material  when  elaborated  into  commodities  would  be  more  val- 
uable than  in  its  primitive  condition,  and  might  in  its  new  form 
be  exported  for  a  return  of  the  precious  metals  larger  than 
that  which  had  been  allowed  originally  to  leave  the  kingdom. 
Under  this  view  it  became  necessary  to  have  a  market  for 
manufactured  commodities  ;  hence  the  idea  of  colonies  under 
sufficient  control  to  be  kept  from  all  kinds  of  production  but 
that  of  raw  material,  in  order,  in  the  first  place,  that  such  raw 
material  might  be  cheap,  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  there 
might  be  a  demand  for  the  industrial  products  of  the  mother 
country.  Thus  the  blessed  thirst  for  gold  was  a  common  mo- 
tive in  both  the  English  and  Spanish  struggles  for  foreign 
dependencies. 

Although  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  mercantile  system 
was  long  since  discredited,  many  of  its  practical  consequences 


14  DA  TA   OF  MEXICAN  AND 

survive  in  modern  legislation.  The  hostility  to  importation, 
which  marks  the  commercial  policy  of  many  existing  states, 
is  a  practical  survival  of  an  exploded  economic  theory. 
England's  support  of  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union  in  the 
civil  war  was  suggested  by  the  surviving  ideas  of  her  colonial 
policy.  The  South,  an  abundant  producer  of  raw  material, 
without  manufactures,  and  with  a  considerable  demand  for 
manufactured  commodities,  was  such  a  colony  as  the  Euro- 
pean nations  sought  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centu- 
ries. To  draw  these  States  into  a  close  alliance  with  England 
was  one  of  the  aims  of  the  English,  and  they  were  not  care- 
ful about  the  means.  Moreover,  since  the  German  Empire 
has  turned  back  towards  mediaevalism  in  her  economic  affairs, 
since  she  has  accepted  the  practical  doctrines  of  that  theory 
which  was  the  basis  of  the  early  English  and  Spanish  colonial 
policies,  she  has  been  scouring  the  world  for  some  unoccupied 
territory  which  may  serve  as  the  beginning  place  of  a  colonial 
foundation.  Unlike  the  Spanish  and  the  English,  the  Ger- 
mans have  shown  themselves  willing,  on  emigrating,  to  be 
absorbed  by  other,  nations  and  consequently  practically  unfit 
for  the  work  of  establishing  independent  commercial  outposts 
for  the  mother  country. 

From  another  point  of  view  the  English  and  Spanish  poli- 
cies with  reference  to  colonial  dependencies  have  been  some- 
what wide  apart.  While  Spain  was  sending  Christian  mis- 
sionaries to  extend  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth,  England 
was  making  her  colonies  a  place  of  banishment  for  her  con- 
victs. There  is  no  doubt  that  one  of  the  motives  of  Spain's 
action  was  a  genuine  and  honest  desire  for  the  spiritual  regen- 
eration of  the  native  population,  and  that  this  desire  was  felt  by 
many  of  those  who  sought  to  make  themselves  the  instru- 
ments of  this  regeneration.  But  at  the  same  time  ecclesias- 
tics, when  they  constitute  the  predominating  element,  do  not 
furnish  a  hopeful  basis  for  a  new  social  organism.  It  may  be 
said  that  under  the  priests  in  the  Spanish  settlements  in 
America  the  natives  learned  the  arts  of  peace  and  were  well 
started  on  the  way  towards  civilized  life.  Yet  in  almost 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  15 

every  instance,  if  not  in  every  instance,  the  priestly  method 
of  building  up  a  society  has  had  to  undergo  a  revolution  be- 
fore any  real  progress  could  become  possible.  For  an  illustra- 
tion of  this  process  we  have  not  to  look  beyond  the  history  of 
California.  The  missions  of  California  when  they  were  secu- 
larized had  gone  about  as  far  as  it  was  possible  to  go  on  that 
line  towards  civilization.  A  few  thousand  natives  had  been 
reduced  to  a  slave-like  submission,  and  a  few  thousand  cattle 
had  been  scattered  over  the  hills  and  along  the  valleys,  and  at 
this  point  social  progress  had  stopped.  Further  advance  to- 
wards the  cultivation  of  civilized  life  required  the  substitution 
of  an  entirely  new  basis  of  social  order.  Before  we  could 
build  a  new  and  nobler  structure,  the  old  structure  had  to  be 
broken  down  and  a  new  foundation  laid. 

But  the  most  significant  contrast  between  Spanish  and 
English  dependencies  appears  with  reference  to  the  extent 
of  power  exercised  in  matters  of  local  control.  In  other 
words,  it  is  a  contrast  in  means  of  political  education.  Under 
the  rigid  rule  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  and  of  its  subor- 
dinates, provided  for  carrying  out  the  decrees  of  the  Spanish 
Government,  the  great  body  of  the  people  learned  only  one 
lesson,  and  that  was  the  lesson  of  obedience.  The  power  of 
self-determination  they  had  no  opportunities  for  acquiring. 
They  only  learned  to  follow,  not  because  they  saw  any  reason 
for  going  in  one  direction  rather  than  in  another,  but  because 
they  were  dominated  by  a  superstition  born  of  inexperience 
in  matters  of  public  concern.  The  result  of  this  was  to  make 
possible  quiet  and  orderly  conduet'lis'long  as  the  power  of  the 
parent  state  remained  unshakefr;  but  it  did  not  prepare  the 
way  for  independent  national  conduct.  When,  therefore,  the  tie 
of  allegiance  to  Spain  was  severed,  the  communities  were  like  a 
ship  without  a  rudder*-or  ballast.  There  were  no  points  of 
advantage  that  could  be  used  to  give  them  consistent  move- 
ment in  any  direction.  They  were  subject  to  the  shifting 
currents  of  uninstructed  prejudice.  While  the  bulk  of  the 
people  were  willing  to  render  obedience,  they  were  without 
the  means  of  determining  to  whom  it  should  be  rendered. 


16  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

They  were  perfect  material  for  the  demagogue,  that  is  to  say, 
they  were  the  pliant  tools  of  revolutionists.  The  Spanish- 
American  attempts  at  self-government  have,  therefore,  in 
most  cases  had  a  sorry  outcome;  not  because  of  any  original 
incapacity  in  the  stock,  but  because  of  the  lamentable  politi- 
cal education  which  the  dependencies  received  during  their 
three  centuries  of  bondage  to  Spain,  an  education,  the  evil 
tendencies  of  which  it  will  require  yet  several  generations 
completely  to  counteract.  It  is  natural  to  cast  the  blame  for 
the  political  shortcomings  of  Mexico  and  the  South  American 
republics  on  the  republican  scheme  of  government.  The 
wonder  the  rather  is  that  the  republican  system  has  been 
able  to  find  here  any  tolerable  application.  Most  of  the  evils 
which  are  charged  against  republicanism  as  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment, whether  in  the  former  Spanish  dependencies  of 
America,  or  in  the  now  independent  English  settlements, 
cannot  with  justice  be  ascribed  to  democracy,  but  are  rather 
attributable  to  the  unfortunate  political  antecedents  of  those 
who  are  attempting  to  live  by  the  democratic  rule.  The  sins 
of  the  fathers  are  being  visited  on  the  children.  This  pre- 
vious education  under  monarchy  is  one  of  the  chief  sources 
of  embarrassment  to  republican  government.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  colonies  in  pursuit  of  republican  liberty  derive  an 
incalculable  advantage  from  their  antecedents,  when  they  are 
derived  from  a  nation  in  which  the  spirit  of  liberty  was  active 
at  the  time  of  separation.  The  zeal  for  political  freedom 
which  was  manifest  in  a  large  part  of  the  English  nation,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  ample  provisions  for  self- 
government  which  had  already  been  carried  out  by  the 
English  people,  are  points  not  to  be  overlooked  in  considering 
the  political  affairs  of  the  United  States  ;  nor,  in  seeking  a 
rational  explanation  of  the  establishment  and  long  contin- 
uance of  absolutism  in  Mexico,  are  we  to  forget  that  Spanish 
colonization  of  that  country  took  place  at  a  time  when  the 
ancient  popular  liberty  of  Spain  had  been  suppressed,  and 
the  nation  subjected  to  the  despotic  rule  of  the  crown.  The 
contrast  between  the  origin  of  Mexico  and  that  of  the  United 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  17 

States  goes  a  long  way  towards  explaining  the  difference 
between  their  later  courses  of  political  development.  The 
settlers  of  the  United  States  came  from  a  nation  which  had 
resisted  the  encroachments  of-  the  crown  ;  the  settlers  of 
Mexico  were  the  creatures  of  the  crown,  and  from  a  country 
where  the  national  parliament  had  already  lost  its  power 
and  the  government  been  removed  from  popular  control. 
The  people  of  the  United  States,  at  the  beginning  of  their 
colonial  history,  occupied  a  more  advanced  position,  politi- 
cally, than  any  other  part  of  the  world's  population.  The 
Spanish  settlers  of  Mexico  were,  politically,  representatives 
of  a  retrograde  movement.  Spain,  then,  gave  to  Mexico  an 
inheritance  of  absolutism,  while  England  gave  to  the  United 
States  a  solid  basis  of  free  institutions  and  an  unconquerable 
spirit  of  liberty.  The  traditions  which  Mexico  derived  from 
the  mother  country  were  largely  the  traditions  of  despotism, 
and  any  permanent  advance  towards  liberty  had  to  be  made 
in  opposition  to  these  traditions.  In  the  United  States, 
however,  the  people  were,  in  a  certain  sense,  forced  into  lib- 
erty by  the  power  of  their  political  traditions. 

The  contrast  which  is  here  presented  from  another  point  of 
view  is  also  important.  The  United  States  were  settled  by  a 
people  who,  throughout  a  most  remarkable  career  of  conquest 
and  colonization,  have  never  truckled  to  the  savage,  nor  for  the 
sake  of  influence  over  inferior  races,  been  willing  to  give  up 
their  purity  of  blood.  Since  the  days  of  migration  from  the 
low  lands  of  Sleswick,  the  English  people,  in  England,  in 
America,  in  Australia,  have  moved  steadily  and  irresistibly  for- 
ward, and  their  advance  has  been  marked  by  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  uncultivated  aborigines.  The  English  in  colonizing 
have  been  uncompromizing.  To  the  barbarians  whose  territory 
they  have  overrun,  they  have  held  out  two  simple  alternatives, 
either  to  accept  the  English  standard  of  civilization,  or  to  fold 
their  tents  and  depart.  The  Spaniards,  on  the  other  hand,  and 
the  French  as  well,  have  carried  out  an  entirely  different  policy. 
Wherever  they  have  met  the  native  tribes  of  America,  they 
have  been  willing  to  descend  from  their  European  standard  of 


18  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

civilization  and  affiliate  with  them  on  a  lower  plane.  In 
Mexico,  the  Spaniards  have  mingled  their  blood  with  the 
blood  of  the  natives,  and  have  brought  them  into  the  church 
through  a  compromise  between  Christianity  and  Paganism. 
The  English  policy  tends  to  exterminate  the  barbarians,  while, 
under  Spanish  dominion,  they  form  a  constituent  part  of  the 
new  nation.  From  the  stand-point  of  the  individuals  or  the 
tribes  of  the  native  population,  the  English  policy  appears 
merciless  and  unwarrantably  cruel  ;  but  from  the  stand-point 
of  the  method  of  social  progress,  "  so  careless  of  the  single 
life  "  if  only  the  great  end  is  reached,  it  may  find  abundant 
justification. 

Although  the  English  have  been  more  exacting  in  their 
social  demands  on  the  people  of  their  dependencies  than  the 
Spanish,  although  they  have  insisted  rigidly  on  the  maintenance 
of  the  English  standard  of  civilization,  they  have  at  the  same 
time  held  their  dependencies,  particularly  since  the  fatal  mis- 
take with  the  thirteen  American  colonies,  in  a  much  more 
lenient  bondage  than  the  other  European  nations.  In  the 
case  of  the  Spanish  dependency,  the  bonds  binding  it  to  the 
mother  country  have  been  rigid  and  unelastic,  so  that  they 
have  parted  with  the  first  considerable  strain,  and  the  colony 
has  been  irretrievably  severed  from  its  superior.  The  English 
dependencies,  on  the  other  hand,  have  found  themselves  at 
the  end  of  an  elastic  tie.  When  they  have  tugged  to  be  free, 
the  cord  has  yielded,  but  has  gradually  drawn  them  back 
when  their  discontent  was  past.  Australia  and  Canada  may 
adopt  a  commercial  policy  directly  at  variance  with  the  views 
of  England,  and  still  the  bond  of  union  remains  unbroken. 
But  Spain  has  insisted  on  an  essential  uniformity  of  policy 
throughout  her  vast  dominions;  in  other  words,  obedience  to 
that  policy  which  would  contribute  most  to  the  selfish  inter- 
ests of  the  mother  country.  Trifling  disagreements  have, 
therefore,  led  to  strained  relations  between  them,  and  ulti- 
mately to  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  An  illustration  of 
this  may  be  found  not  only  in  Mexico,  but  also  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Here  the  people  had  a  few  little  eccentricities  which 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  19 

were  not  in  keeping  with  the  designs  of  the  Spaniards.  One 
was  the  disposition  to  use  the  results  of  their  thrift  for  their 
own  advantage,  and  not  to  allow  them  to  be  appropriated  for 
a  useless  extension  of  their  clerical  force.  In  view  of  such  in- 
dependence the  Spaniard  was  filled  with  fiery  indignation.  To 
his  mind  a  ruined  province  with  obedience  appeared  better 
than  a  rich  province  filled  with  the  spirit  of  independence. 
The  outcome  of  rigid  adherence  to  such  doctrines  was  the 
loss  by  the  Spanish  of  their  most  abundant  sources  of  wealth. 

While  the  Spanish  political  policy  has  tended  to  drive  her 
colonies  into  revolt  and  independence,  her  social  policy,  as 
already  suggested,  has  tended  to  preserve  the  original  stock  and 
mingle  its  blood  with  the  blood  of  the  immigrant  population; 
yet  at  the  end  of  any  considerable  period,  the  increase  in  the 
English  colony,  under  conditions  equally  favorable  with  those 
of  a  given  Spanish  colony,  will  be  found  to  have  far  outrun 
the  increase  of  the  combined  Spanish  and  native  populations. 
At  least  this  appears  from  a  comparison  of  Mexico  and  the 
United  States.  The  English  policy  is,  therefore,  consistent 
with  that  view  which  sees  in  social  progress  the  pursuit  of 
grand  ultimate  results  rather  than  inferior  immediate  results, 
although  the  latter  may  be  more  in  harmony  with  our  short- 
sighted sympathies.  The  accounts  of  the  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Mexico  are  simple  more  or  less  accurate  esti- 
mates, yet  they  are  sufficiently  accurate  to  indicate  in  a 
general  way  the  growth  of  the  Mexican  population,  which 
appears,  when  compared  with  the  growth  of  the  population 
in  the  United  States,  to  have  been  exceedingly  slow. 

Taking  dates  of  enumeration  in  the  two  countries  as  near 
together  as  possible,  we  find  that  in  1793,  Mexico  had  a  popu- 
lation of  4,483,529,  while  the  population  of  the  United  States 
in  1790  was  3,929,214.  About  twenty  years  latter,  in  1808, 
Mexico  had  6,500,000,  and  the  United  States,  in  1810, 
7,239,881.  For  Mexico's  next  enumeration  wre  are  obliged  to 
pass  over  a  period  of  thirty  years,  to  1838,  at  which  time  the 
population  is  set  down  at  7,044.140,  but  in  1840,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  had  become  I7,:69,453.  The  next 


20 

comparison  may  be  made  in  1856  for  Mexico,  and  in  1860  for 
the  United  States,  when  the  former  had  7,859,564,  and  the 
later,  31,443,321.  In  1872,  Mexico  had  9,097,056  inhabitants, 
and  the  United  States,  in  1870,  38,558,371.  Ten  years  later, 
in  1883,  Mexico's  population  had  increased  to  10,500,000, 
while  that  of  the  United  States  was  nearly  five  times  as  great, 
amounting  in  1880,  to  50,155,783.  These  data  put  in  a  tabu- 
lar form  reveal  more  clearly  the  striking  contrast  in  the 
increase  of  population  in  the  two  countries. 


MEXICO. 


UNITED  STATES. 


1793 4,483,529  |  1790  3,929,214 

1808 6,500,000  ',  1 8 10 7,239,881 

1838 7,044,140  i  1846 17,069,453 

1856 7»859,564  !  1860 31,443,321 

1870 38,558,371 

1880 50,155,783 


1872 

1 883 10,500,000 


The  difference  in  assimilating  power  which  has  been  indi- 
cated as  existing  between  the  English  and  Spanish  peoples, 
has  important  consequences.  The  United  States,  originating 
chiefly  in  English  colonization,  manifests,  in  spite  of  consider- 
able additions  from  other  peoples,  a  strong  tendency  to 
become  homogeneous,  while  modern  Mexico,  having  its  origin 
*w  \  in  the  union  of  Spanish  colonists  and  the  aborigines,  con- 
^•tinues  to  be  characterized  by  class  distinctions,  no  one  element 
being  powerful  enough  to  assimilate  the  rest.  The  effect  of 
this  is  to  render  the  practical  political  problems  more  complex 
and  difficult  in  the  latter  nation  than  in  the  former. 

Facts  like  these  regarding  the  migration  and  colonization 
of  the  English  and  Spanish  peoples,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  statistics  of  the  growth  of  population  in  Mexico  and  the 
United  States,  are  data  of  great  importance  in  elucidating  the 
political  problems  which  the  two  nations  present.  These  data 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  21 

furnish,  moreover,  a  certain  basis  for  speculations  touching  the 
probable  future  of  these  two  nations.  In  the  last  ninety  years 
the  population  of  Mexico  has  increased  from  four  and  a  half 
millions  to  ten  and  a  half  millions.  The  population  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  same  time,  has  increased  from  four  mil- 
lions to  fifty  millions.  The  same  rate  of  increase  in  each, 
continued  during  the  next  ninety  years,  will  give  Mexico  a 
population  of  twenty-four  and  a  half  millions,  and  the  United 
States  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
this  enormous  increase  in  the  United  States,  during  the  last 
ninety  years,  the  inhabitants  have  continued  to  be  better  fed 
and  clothed  than  in  Mexico,  and  there  are  no  indications  that 
a  lack  of  subsistence  during  the  next  period  will  furnish  a 
more  efficient  check  on  the  growth  of  population  in  the  larger 
than  in  the  smaller  nation.  But  to  suppose  that  this  vast 
population  will  keep  strictly  within  the  present  limits,  is  to 
suppose  that  the  English  people,  after  centuries  of  expansion, 
will  here,  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  suddenly  give  up  its 
ancient  habits  and  lay  aside  its  most  vital  and  characteristic 
tendency.  These  facts  rather  make  it  probable  that  the 
stream  of  English  migration,  finding  a  limit  set  to  its  western 
movement,  will  be  turned  towards  the  south,  and  seek  at  least 
a  temporary  outlet  into  the  temperate  regions  of  the  Mexican 
table-lands,  where  the  exceptional  business  sagacity  of  the 
people  of  English  stock  will  easily  obtain  industrial  and  com- 
mercial dominion  over  a  population  of  inferior  business  capac- 
city,  and  of  a  childish  improvidence.  The  position  and  in- 
fluence of  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  of  the  two  nations  also 
furnish  data  essential  to  an  understanding  of  the  affairs  of 
these  nations.  In  these  matters,  the  United  States  appears, 
from  a  political  point  of  view,  to  have  been  the  more  fortu- 
nate. The  contrast  presented  here  is  between  the  principle 
and  practice  of  toleration,  on  the  one  hand,  and  intolerance 
and  the  inquisition,  on  the  other.  In  one  nation,  reiigion 
tended  to  become  a  private  matter  ;  in  the  other  it  was,  and 
tended  to  remain,  an  affair  of  the  state.  In  some  of  the  set- 
tlements of  the  United  States,  the  ecclesiastical  and  political 


22  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

organizations  were  at  first  merged  in  one,  but  the  tendency  to 
separate  them  appeared  early  and  continued  until  the  divorce 
was  complete.  But  in  Mexico,  the  alliance  continued  un- 
broken for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  the  church  con- 
stantly gaining  wealth,  power,  and  compactness  of  organiza- 
tion. From  one  end  of  the  realm  to  the  other,  there  were  no 
affairs  of  memorable  importance  but  those  in  which  the 
church  was  more  or  less  directly  concerned.  It  held  one-half 
of  all  the  property  of  the  country,  and  was  directed  by  men 
whose  very  calling  placed  them  out  of  sympathy  with  those 
interests  on  which  the  prosperity  of  society  depends.  On  the 
economic  affairs  of  Mexico,  as  on  those  of  Spain,  the  church 
laid  the  curse  of  its  dead  hand.  Against  this  powerful  organ- 
ization, wielding  immense  wealth,  and  armed  with  the  spirit- 
ual thunderbolts  of  Divine  wrath,  has  had  to  be  waged  the 
struggle  for  free,  secular  government  in  Mexico. 

The  fact  that  the  settlers  of  the  United  States  were  dis- 
senters, bound  to  no  strong  hierarchical  organization,  was  sig- 
nificant, in  that  it  rendered  easy  the  complete  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  England.  The  Spaniards,  on  the  other 
hand,  who  introduced  European  civilization  into  Mexico,  were 
adherents  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  thus  the  Church  of 
Mexico  and  the  Church  of  Spain  became  allied  as  parts  of 
one  great  organism.  When,  therefore,  the  struggle  for 
Mexican  independence  came,  it  was  found  that  it  was  not 
enough  to  break  the  political  bond  ;  the  bond  of  ecclesiastical 
union  and  sympathy  remained,  always  drawing  a  large  part  of 
the  new  nation  back  to  its  allegiance  to  Spain.  The  Tories  of 
the  thirteen  colonies  disappeared  soon  after  the  Revolutionary 
period  ;  they  either  accepted  gracefully  the  fact  of  independ- 
ence, or  wandered  off  to  seek  more  congenial  companionship. 
But  the  upholders  of  Spanish  rule  in  Mexico,  during  the  war 
for  Mexican  independence,  remained,  when  the  war  was  over 
a  powerful  and  dissatisfied  element  in  the  national  politics 
The  thirteen  colonies  had  achieved  intellectual  and  spiritual 
independence  long  before  the  war  for  political  independence 
began.  But  even  after  the  Mexicans  had  achieved  their  poli- 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  23 

tical  independence,  they  remained  still  in  ecclesiastical  and 
intellectual  bondage  to  the  mother  country. 

The  strength  of  this  conservative  element,  or  of  the  element 
of  the  Mexican  population  that  has  been  dissatisfied  with  in- 
dependence, has  been  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  numerous 
revolutions  which  have  afflicted  this  unhappy  country.  These 
revolutions,  moreover,  by  giving  to  the  inhabitants  an  unstable 
character,  by  preventing  them  from  learning  that  there  is  any 
other  way  to  settle  a  national  issue  in  politics  than  by  force  of 
arms,  have  unquestionably  made  an  impression  on  the  mind 
of  the  nation  which  cannot  be  overlooked  in  explaining  its 
political  institutions  and  practice.  Bad  conduct  may  give  a 
nation,  as  well  as  an  individual  man,  bad  habits,  and  these 
habits  in  both  cases  become  factors  in  determining  the  life.  A 
nation  that  lives  through  two  or  three  revolutions  in  a  genera- 
tion becomes  familiarized  with  the  idea  of  effecting  results  by 
this  means,  and  has  constantly  to  be  dealt  with  as  if  at  the 
first  appearance  of  dissatisfaction  it  might  fly  into  revolt. 
Mexico  is  not  the  only  country  where  factions  have  stood 
ready,  at  any  unfavorable  turn  of  affairs,  to  take  power  into 
their  own  hands.  France  has  been  more  or  less  afflicted  in 
this  way.  But  the  English  people,  in  England  and  the  United 
States,  have  never  shown  great  sympathy  with  revolutionary 
methods.  They  have  generally  manifested  a  firm  adherence 
to  legal  means  for  accomplishing  public  ends.  Their  allegi- 
ance is  to  impersonal  law.  But  in  the  Continental  nations,  in 
whose  governments  the  monarchial  element  has  played  a  more 
conspicuous  role,  the  allegiance  of  the  subjects  partakes  of  the 
character  of  personal  devotion  to  the  king  or  emperor.  It  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  the  Mexicans,  after  their  long  tute- 
lage under  absolutism,  should  find  it  somewhat  difficult  to 
guide  their  actual  conduct  by  a  rule  which  they  cannot  attri- 
bute to  any  personal  protector.  In  this  regard  they  present  a 
more  or  less  significant  contrast  with  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 

Of  the  other  phases  of  national  life,  which  might  be  ex- 
amined and  set  as  a  back-ground  for  the  presentation  of  the 


24  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

politics  of  Mexico,  it  must  suffice,  after  what  has  already  been 
said,  to  refer  simply  to  the  economic  affairs  of  the  nation,  and 
to  the  fact  of  the  presence  in  it  of  large  unassimilated  ele- 
ments of  population.  No  adequate  understanding  of  the 
institutions  and  political  life  of  the  United  States  can  be 
attained  without  taking  into  account  the  nation's  abundant 
wealth,  the  predominence  of  the  industrial  and  commercial 
spirit,  and  the  irresistible  tendency  of  the  inhabitants  to  com- 
bine for  the  conduct  of  business.  Nor  can  we  properly  under- 
stand the  institutions  and  political  life  of  Mexico  without 
taking  into  account  the  poverty  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  peo- 
ple, the  insignificant  development  of  the  practical  business 
sense,  and  the  almost  entire  want  of  the  spirit  of  industrial 
association.  These  facts  indicate  national  qualities  that  are 
influential  in  determining  not  only  the  political  law,  but  also 
the  political  customs  and  usages  of  the  nation  ;  that  is  to  say, 
it  will  be  found  that  two  nations  differing  so  widely  from  one 
another  in  these  respects  as  Mexico  and  the  United  States, 
will  not  have  parallel  courses  of  legal  development,  and  even 
if  they  start  with  similar  laws,  the  conventions  of  the  constitu- 
tions, consisting  of  customs,  practices,  maxims  or  precepts 
which  are  not  enforced  or  recognized  by  the  courts,'  will  neces- 
sarily be  different. 

The  law  of  Mexico,  for  example,  provides  for  universal 
suffrage,  but  the  bulk  of  the  population  do  not  enjoy  the 
privilege  which  the  law  accords.  They  are  ignorant,  and  they 
are  overwhelmed  in  that  indolent  poverty  which  prevails  in 
the  tropics.  They  are  nominally  free,  but  their  ignorance, 
their  poverty,  and  the  prejudice  under  which  they  live  prevent 
them  from  exercising  political  rights.  Although  not  carried 
out,  the  law  stands  unrepealed.  It  is,  however,  practically 
modified  by  conventional  rules  which  no  one  thinks  of  dis- 
regarding. When  a  conventional  rule  which  controverts  a 
written  law,  has  arisen  and  become  established,  it  is  in  keep- 
ing with  the  order  of  legal  growth,  and  therefore  to  be  ex- 

1  Dicey,  "The  Law  of  the  Constitution,"  341. 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  25 

pccted  that  sooner  or  later  the  law  will  be  modified  and 
brought  into  conformity  with  the  custom.  From  this  point 
of  view  may  be  clearly  seen  the  importance  of  economic 
conditions  and  of  all  peculiar  conditions  which  are  powerful 
in  modifying  national  customs,  and  which  by  shaping  the 
customs  ultimately  determine  the  laws  and  political  institu- 
tions of  the  nation.  The  economic  affairs  of  Mexico  present 
a  striking  contrast  to  those  of  the  United  States,  and  very 
different  influences  are  thereby  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
political  development  of  the  two  countries.  This  economic 
difference  is,  to  a  very  great  extent,  the  result  of  the  different 
fundamental  ideas  on  which  the  two  societies  were  organized. 
To  express  this  difference  in  a  word,  Mexican  society  was 
organized,  and,  throughout  the  greater  part  of  its  history 
continued  to  rest,  on  an  ecclesiastical  basis,  while  the  society 
of  the  United  States  was  formed  on  an  economical  basis,  or 
on  a  basis  of  industry  and  commerce.  Under  the  Mexican 
organization  the  gains  of  society  were,  in  a  very  large  meas- 
ure, turned  to  economically  unproductive  uses.  The  erection 
and  maintenance  of  numberless  costly  churches  and  monas- 
teries, however  desirable  may  have  been  the  spiritual  results, 
absorbed  millions  which  not  only  added  nothing  to  the  pro- 
ductive forces  of  the  nation,  but  remained,  as  long  as  they 
were  devoted  to  their  original  purpose,  an  important  item  of 
expense.  Had  the  millions,  or  any  considerable  part  of  them, 
which  early  in  the  history  of  Mexico  went  into  its  ecclesias- 
tical foundations,  been  so  invested  as  to  have  brought  the 
ordinary  returns  of  capital,  Mexico  would  have  become  one 
of  the  richest  nations  in  the  world,  instead  of  being,  as  it  is 
at  present,  on  the  verge  of  national  bankruptcy.  From  an 
economical  point  of  view,  it  appears  as  one  of  the  elements 
of  the  good  fortune  of  the  United  States,  that  the  people,  in 
the  early  part  of  their  history,  were  satisfied  with  the  plain 
wooden  meeting  house,  and  at  the  same  time  were  moved  to 
put  their  surplus  gains  where  they  would  constitute  a  pro- 
ductive force,  and  where,  by  their  own  annual  increase,  they 
would  add  to  the  aggregate  wealth  of  society. 


26  DATA    OF  MEXICAN  AND 

But  the  church  is  only  one  of  the  forces  that  have  operated 
to  determine  the  relative  economic  position  of  these  two  na- 
tions. To  this  must  be  added  the  climate  and  the  character- 
istics of  the  several  classes  of  the  inhabitants.  The  rapid 
advancement  made  by  the  people  of  the  northern  part  of  the 
United  States  in  the  development  of  means  for  facilitating 
agricultural  and  industrial  production  is  due  in  a  very  large 
degree  to  the  fact  that  labor  here  has  never  been  under  the 
ban  of  a  social  prejudice,  as  in  Mexico  and  the  Southern 
States  of  the  Union.  Wherever  slave  labor,  or  the  labor  of  IT" 
despised  class,  exists,  there  is  far  less  incentive  to  improve  the 
instruments  of  production  than  under  circumstances  where 
laborers  are  free  and  labor  is  held  in  esteem.  Mexico  and 
the  Southern  States  of  the  Union  present,  to  some  extent,  a 
parallel  in  this  regard.  The  position  of  the  negro  of  the 
South  is  not  althogether  unlike  that  of  the  Indian  of  Mexico. 
Each  bears  the  burden  of  the  bulk  of  the  ordinary  labor  of  his 
community,  and  against  both  there  rests  a  strong  social  preju- 
dice. Each  belongs  to  a  rude  element  in  the  population, 
which  affords  little  stimulus  to  economic  progress,  and  the 
presence  of  which  helps  to  account  for  the  backwardness  of 
the  economic  affairs  of  Mexico  and  the  Southern  States  as 
compared  with  the  northern  half  of  the  Union,  where  the 
labor  has  been  performed  by  persons  of  a  higher  grade  of  in- 
telligence and  of  superior  independence. 

The  political  problem  presented  by  the  presence  of  the 
negro  population  in  the  South  is  not,  however,  iden- 
tical with  the  Indian  problem  in  Mexico.  The  Indi- 
ans, who  constitute  about  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Mexico,  had  attained  a  higher  grade  of  cultivation  when  they 
fell  under  the  dominion  of  the  Europeans  than  the  negroes 
had  reached  when  they  were  first  introduced  into  the  United 
States.  The  social  structure  which  was  overthrown  by  the 
Spaniards  was  nearer  civilization,  as  represented  by  the  Euro- 
pean nations,  than  the  society  from  which  the  negroes  were 
transferred  to  the  British  Colonies.  But  this  advantage  of 
the  Indians  had  been  offset  by  the  later  circumstances  of  the 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY.  27 

negroes,  which  have  imposed  upon  them  wants  entirely  be- 
yond the  experience  of  the  Indians.  The  negro's  wants  are 
essentially  those  of  the  society  into  which  he  has  been  intro- 
duced ;  and  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  these  wants,  and  of 
the  necessity  of  labor  for  their  satisfaction,  is  the  ground  of 
the  superiority  of  the  negro's  position  over  that  of  the  Indian, 
who  has  very  few  wants  and,  in  the  products  of  the  tropics, 
abundant  means  for  their  satisfaction.  The  lack  of  conspicu- 
ous lines  of  class  distinction  in  the  United  States  permits  the 
negro  to  take  his  standard  of  life  from  his  white  fellow-citi- 
zens ;  but  the  rigid  caste-like  organization  of  Mexican  society 
prevents  the  idea  from  arising  in  the  Indian's  mind,  that  he 
should  live  in  accordance  with  the  standard  of  any  other  than 
the  class  to  which  he  belongs.  Each  generation  has  been 
satisfied  to  accept  the  standard  of  its  preceding  genera- 
tion, and  thus  without  increasing  wants  there  has  been 
no  increase  of  efforts,  and  consequently  no  progress  ;  for 
wants  and  increasing  wants  constitute  the  main  force  by 
which  a  class  or  a  nation  is  induced  to  advance.  The  condi- 
tion of  primary  importance,  therefore,  for  the  elevation  and 
progress  of  the  Indians  of  Mexico  is  that  they  should  be 
brought  into  such  relations  with  other  classes  as  will  cause 
them  to  feel  the  necessity  of  accepting  a  higher  standard  of 
living,  with  the  multitude  of  new  wants  which  this  involves. 
This  is  essentially  the  position  into  which  many  of  the  negroes 
of  the  United  States  have  been  brought  by  contact  with  the 
people  of  European  descent.  And  that  the  Mexican  Indians, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  may  not  only  rise  to  the  position 
of  honest  and  industrious  members  of  society,  but  even  dis- 
play talents  of  the  highest  order,  may  be  seen  from  the  social 
history  of  Mexico  and  from  illustrious  examples.  The  great 
man  of  the  Republic,  the  late  President  Juarez,  was  an  Indian 
without  foreign  taint.  More  than  any  other  of  his  country- 
men of  whatever  descent,  he  was  endowed  with  the  prophetic 
vision  of  a  great  statesman.  But  whatever  may  be  the  future 
of  the  Mexican  Indians,  at  present  they  are  living  on  a  social 
plane  far  lower  than  that  which  the  laws  presume  as  becoming 


28       DATA  OF  MEXICAN  AND  UNITED  STATES  HISTORY. 

a  citizen  of  a  republic.  We  are,  therefore,  obliged  to  think  of 
the  complex  political  activity  of  a  civilized  state  going  on  in 
a  nation,  where  the  bulk  of  the  population  lacks  the  enlight- 
enment necessary  to  an  understanding  of  this  activity  and  of 
the  institutions  through  which  it  is  expressed. 


162281 


9  3  3       S 


IVM. 

ua 


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